Irreversible - 2002 * *

Time destroys all things.

I'm actually going to go against the grain and say that I didn't like this movie. And not because of the violent and grotesque rape scene which is agonising to watch. I didn't find the unusual method of replaying the scenes from the end to the beginning helpful or 'wacky', instead I found it confusing and really jumbled up with no actually reason whatsover. There was no point to the way it was shot. There was no point to the horrible wobbly camera work which was worse that even Cloverfield (which is saying something), and no point to the detached and depressing awfulness of the whole thing. I understand we are supposedly being treated to 'reality' and 'if we don't want gloom then not to watch the film' etc but I personally wantto be fullfilled when watching a movie and this production could do nothing for me. If it wasn't for Monica Belluci's outstanding beauty the whole movie would have been a complete wash-out. I find myself comparing this to 'Antichrist' which was another awful excuse for violence and insult. However at least the acting in that film was amazing whereas this fell totally flat on it's very disturbing face. You could tell that the director was trying to be all arty and add in hidden meanings and metaphorical images but he got in such a mess that it ended up feeling like you were watching an amateur film-makers work instead of a well renowned and popular director.